Jewett, left, stands alongside Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jim Savaria and Air Force National Guard Lt. Col. Kimberly Terpening, two of the service members whom the artist included in her painting. (ERICA MILLER/The Saratogian)

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Rumara Jewett has honored members of the Armed Forces the best way she knows how -- with her paint brush.

The Saratoga Springs artist, admiring well-wishers and several of her subjects -- soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines -- gathered Friday at the New York State Military Museum for the official unveiling of her latest work, "Coming Home."

The colorful painting depicts 20 people in uniform, parading down a typical small-town U.S.A. Main Street with balloons and confetti filling the air.

"We all posed individually and she melded us together," said Lt. Col. Rob Mitchell of Saratoga Springs said. "That's what's so amazing. If you didn't know better, you'd say we were all walking down the street together."

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He's an Army National Guard veteran of the war in Afghan-istan.

Jewett intentionally tried to depict different branches of the service based on their actual numbers. For example, marines make up about 15 percent of the U.S. military, so three of the 20 people in her painting are marines.

The work also serves an important purpose.

"I would like to think it raises awareness about soldiers who are serving overseas, and the sacrifices soldiers and their families make," said Army National Guard Lt. Col. Russ Howe of Ballston Spa, a Desert Storm veteran and former Green Beret.

Jewett's studio is above Wheatfields Restaurant in Saratoga Springs, which she rents from Spa City businessman and Army National Guard Lt. Col. Jim Pabis. It was Pabis who set up most of the contacts between Jewett and her subjects.

"She took pictures of us at the Stratton Air Base in Scotia," Air National Guard Lt. Col. Kim Terpening of Bolton Landing said. "One-and-a-half years later, here it is."

Terpening, a Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran, said she was pleased by her likeness and the detail of Jewett's work.

The artist was joined by her parents, Richard and Julie, and her brother, Lee, from Boston.

Originally, Jewett was commissioned to do the painting for a military event. But arrangements fell apart, so she was left in limbo with hundreds of photos of her subjects and not quite sure what to do. Inspired by her family, which has a long history of military service, she decided to proceed with the painting anyway.

The painting will be at the military museum until fall, and Jewett has already had requests from several other sites that would like to show it, too.

"Now I'm glad I did it," she said. "The soldiers are really enjoying it. Eventually it will get sold, but I'm not worried about that at the moment."